Threadless Cap for a Bottle

ABSTRACT

The invention described herein relates to a threadless cap for a threadless bottle, the threadless cap comprising a threadless outer cap and a threadless inner cap, wherein the threadless inner cap is received in the threadless outer cap so as to define an annulus between them. When assembled, a bottle is received in the annulus with a portion of the threadless inner cap creating a plug that seals the bottle and a portion of the threadless outer cap over hanging the bottle. Both the outer cap and the inner sealingly engage the bottle using a threadless friction fit. To remove the cap from the bottle, one simply slides the cap off the bottle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION

This application is a continuation in part of Nonprovisional patentapplication Ser. No. 15/796532 filed on Oct. 27, 2017, which claimspriority to Provisional Application No. ______, filed on Oct. 27, 2016,entitled An Easy to Open and Reusable Bottle for Children, namingCameron Bishop as the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Bottle containers having a threaded bottle portion that mates with athreaded cap requires twisting the cap to remove it from the bottle.Opening these types of bottles can be difficult to open for individualswith limited hand strength such as young children and the elderly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the invention described herein relates to a threadlesscap for a threadless bottle. The threadless cap includes a threadlessouter cap and a threadless inner cap. The threadless outer cap and thethreadless inner cap may form a single unitary part or two separateparts. In one embodiment, the threadless inner cap may be detachablyreceived in the open center of the threadless outer cap.

The threadless outer cap includes a sidewall surface defining athreadless outer cap open space enclosed by the sidewall surface. Theopen space is fully or partially closed at one end by a top surface. Thetop surface defines an open center portion therein. The threadless outercap also supports at least one gripping surface in one or both of thesidewall surface and the top surface.

The threadless cap also includes a threadless inner cap. The threadlessinner cap incudes an inner cap top surface and an inner cap sidewallsurface, which together define an inner cap open center that is closedat one end by the inner cap top surface.

In assembly, the threadless outer cap receives the threadless inner capin the threadless outer cap open space to define an annulus between thesidewall surface of the threadless outer cap and the threadless innercap sidewall surface. In one embodiment of the invention, the threadlessinner cap may be made of using materials such as rubber, polypropylene,polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride or equivalent materials. The threadlessinner cap may also include a raised domed surface, which is received inthe threadless outer cap partially open center.

In one embodiment, the threadless outer cap sidewall surface may includea gripping part. The gripping part may include a circumferentialsurface. The circumferential surface may be a raised or recessed surfacethat surrounds or extends around the threadless outer cap sidewallsurface. The gripping part may also include one or more spaced apartraised or recessed surfaces formed on the threadless outer cap sidewallsurface. Further still the gripping part may include a combination ofthe circumferential surface and one or more spaced apart raised orrecessed surfaces formed in the threadless outer cap sidewall surface orthe top surface.

When used in assembly with a bottle, the threadless cap engages thebottle using a threadless friction fit. As part of the bottle assembly,the invention also includes a threadless cap for closing the open topsurface of the threadless bottle. The threadless cap includes athreadless outer cap having a sidewall surface defining an open spaceenclosed by the sidewall surface and fully or partially closed at oneend by a top surface. The threadless outer cap top surface defines anopen center portion therein. The threadless outer cap may also supportat least one gripping surface in one or both of the sidewall surface andthe top surface.

The threadless cap also includes a threadless inner cap. The threadlessinner cap includes an inner cap top surface and an inner cap sidewallsurface. The inner cap top surface and the inner cap sidewall surfacedefine an inner cap open space. The inner cap open space is closed atone end by the inner cap top surface such that the open space of thethreadless outer cap receives the inner cap to define an annulus betweensaid sidewall surface of the threadless outer cap and said inner capsidewall surface.

In use, the threadless inner cap sidewall surface sealingly engages thereduced diameter portion and the sidewall of the threadless outer capoverhangs said reduced diameter portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is front cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the bottle andcap shown and described herein.

FIG. 2. is a detailed view of the bottle and cap shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the bottle shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of thebottle and cap shown and described.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the bottle shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an exploded cross-section view of the cap and bottle shown inFIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention 10 described herein relates to a threadless cap 14 for athreadless bottle 12. In the embodiment described herein, the bottleassembly 10 includes a threadless bottle 12, a threadless cap 14comprising a threadless outer cap 16 and a threadless inner cap 18.

The threadless bottle 12 may be a single or multiple use bottle. Thethreadless bottle 12 includes a reduced diameter portion 30 defining anopen center 52. The threadless cap 14 for closing the threadless bottle12 includes a threadless outer cap 16 and a threadless inner cap 18. Thethreadless outer cap 16 receives the threadless inner cap 18 to form athreadless cap 14 having a threadless inner cap 18 having sidewallportion 36 that engages with bottle 12 open center 52 and a threadlessouter cap 16 having a sidewall portion 24 that engages with the bottle12 reduced diameter portion 30. When the threadless cap 14 is placed onthe threadless bottle 12, the threadless cap 14 engages the bottle 12using a friction fit.

Now turning to a more detailed description of an embodiment of theinvention 10. As best seen in FIGS. 1, 4, and 6, the bottle 12 isunthreaded. In the embodiment shown in drawings, the bottle 12 of is thetype and construction known in the industry for containing beverages,such as Nalgene™ bottles, except the bottle 12 does not includesthreads. The bottle 12 includes a reduced diameter portion 30. As bestseen in FIGS. 2 and 6, the bottle 12 defines an open center 52 thatextends through the length of the bottle 12 for receiving contents to bestored in the bottle 12, which stored contents may include a liquid,pills, food or other contents.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, the bottle assembly 10 also includes athreadless cap 14. The threadless cap 14 closes and seals the opencenter 52 of bottle 12 at top portion of bottle 12.

Turning now to FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5, the threadless cap 14 includes athreadless outer cap 16 and a threadless inner cap 18. The threadlessouter cap 16 includes an outer cap body 20 having a threadless outer captop surface 22 and a sidewall 24 extending away from the outer cap topsurface 22. The threadless outer cap top surface 22 defines an opencenter 26.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 6, the threadless outer cap 16 also definesan inner surface 28. The inner surface 28 defines an open space 54surrounded by sidewall 24 that is fully or partially closed at one endby top surface 22.

The threadless outer cap top surface 22 defines or supports a grippingpart 48. The gripping part 48 may be a raised surface such as a portionof the top surface 22 forming a circumferential portion have a diameterlarger than that of the threadless outer cap 16 sidewall surface 24. Thegripping part 48 may also be a recessed surface formed on or supportedby top surface 22. The gripping part may also include spaced apartraised or recessed surfaces 50 formed in sidewall surface 24 orpartially in top surface 22 and sidewall 24, as best seen FIGS. 3 and 5.

The threadless outer cap 16 may be made of a plastic or metal material.The threadless outer cap 16 could be made using a plastic material suchas, but not limited to, PVC. Alternatively, the outer cap 16 could alsobe made using a dense rubber or rubber-like material that would create amore pliable, easy to grip surface.

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 4, the threadless inner cap 18 includes anouter surface 40 and an inner surface 42. Both the outer surface 40 andthe inner surface 42 are, in the embodiment described, smooth-wallsurfaces.

The outer surface 40 of inner cap 18 includes a top surface 34 and asidewall surface 36 extending away from the top surface 34 in adirection opposite the sidewall 36. The top surface 34 defines a raiseddome 38 that extends outwardly away from the top surface 34. The innersurface 42 of cap 18 defines an open space 44 (shown in FIG. 6) of thethreadless inner cap 18. The sidewall surface 36 surrounds the openspace 44 of the threadless inner cap 18. Inner surface 42 closes theopen space 44 of the threadless inner cap 18 at one end.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sidewall surface 36 is a smooththreadless surface. The threadless inner cap 18 may be made of a soft,flexible material such as rubber or polypropylene or other similarmaterials.

The embodiments of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 are identicalexcept for the structure of the reduced diameter portion 30. As bestseen in FIG. 4, the embodiment shows the bottle 12 as having a reduceddiameter portion 30 having a sidewall surface 58 that defines an angularoffset between the sidewall 24 and the reduced diameter portion 30. Theembodiment of the bottle 12 shown in FIG. 1 does not include the angularoffset.

Assembly of One Embodiment of Cap 14

As shown in the embodiment in FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 6, the threadless bottle12 receives the threadless cap 14. As best seen in FIG. 6, thethreadless inner cap 18 sealingly engages the inner surface 56 of thereduced diameter portion 30. The sidewall surface 24 of outer cap 16overhangs the reduced diameter portion 30.

To assemble the cap 14, the threadless inner cap 18 and threadless innercap 16 may be formed as a unitary part, with the threadless inner cap18being received in the open space 54 defined by and enclosed by sidewall24. The threadless inner cap 18 is received in threadless outer cap 16such than an annulus 46 is defined between them for receiving a portionof the reduced diameter portion 30 of bottle 12, as best seen in FIGS.1, 2 and 4.

In this embodiment, the threadless outer cap 16 and the threadless innercap 18 may be formed as a unitary part or formed as two separate partsbut bonded together to form a unitary piece.

In another embodiment, the threadless inner cap 18 and threadless outercap 16 may be formed as separate parts. To assemble the threadless innercap 18 and threadless outer cap 16 in this embodiment, the threadlessinner cap 18 is press fit into the open space 54 defined by innersurface 28 of the threadless outer cap 16 and the threadless outer cap16 sidewall surface 24. Pressure is applied to threadless inner cap 18until the lip 32 and the raised dome 38 pass through the opening 26defined in threadless outer cap 16, wherein the lip 32 holds thethreadless inner cap 18 in place. To remove the threadless inner cap 18from the outer cap 16, pressure is applied to the raised dome 38 andmaintained until the threadless inner cap 18 slides past the top surface22 and the opening 26.

Once the threadless inner cap 18 is assembled in threadless outer cap16, there is a gap or annulus 46 (See FIG. 2) between the threadlessinner cap 18 and the threadless outer cap 16 for receiving the reduceddiameter portion 30 of bottle 12. As best seen in FIG. 6, the threadlessinner cap sidewall surface 36 plugs the opening 52 defined by thereduced diameter portion 30 of bottle 12. The bottle 12 is received inthe annulus 46 and the threadless outer cap sidewall 24 overhangs aportion of the reduced diameter portion 30.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the bottle 12 andthreadless cap 14 disclosed herein may be made using plastic injectionand blow molding techniques. For example, threadless inner cap 18 andthreadless outer cap 16 could be formed using injection moldingtechniques, whereas the bottle 12 could be formed using blow moldingtechniques. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will know thatother fabrication techniques may be used to form the components of thedescribed invention.

One of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that typicalmaterials to be used for fabrication may include plastics, such as, butnot limited to, pvc, clarified pvc, polypropylene, polyethylene, andsome softer plastics or rubber or rubber-like materials, such as, butnot limited to, polyurethane or polypropylene or similar materials. Forinstance, in the disclosed embodiment, the threadless inner cap 18 wasmanufactured using polypropylene; the outer cap was manufactured usingpolyvinyl chloride (“PVC”); and the bottle was manufactured usingclarified PVC. It will also be known to one of skill in the art thatusing rubber or rubber-like materials will give the cap 14 have astronger sealing capacity.

An Example of One Embodiment of the Bottle 10 in Use

A person would first grab hold of the bottle 12 with one hand. The nextstep would be to grab the threadless cap 14 with the other hand and pullthe threadless cap 14 so that it slides off the bottle 12.

It is to be understood that the above-referenced description isillustrative of the invention. Numerous modifications and alternativearrangements can be devised without departing from the spirt and scopeof the present invention. While the invention has been shown in thedrawings and described above in connection with the exemplaryembodiment(s) of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art that numerous modifications can be made withoutdeparting from the principles and concepts of the invention. Forexample, the threadless cap is described as being used with a bottlehaving a reduced diameter portion. However, the threadless cap could beused with threadless bottles having a straight sidewall section and noreduced diameter portion as shown. All such modifications and variationsare intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosureand protected by the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A threadless bottle assembly, comprising: a threadlessbottle having a reduced diameter portion defining an open top surface;and a threadless cap for closing said open top surface of the threadlessbottle, said threadless cap comprising, a threadless outer cap having asidewall surface defining an open space enclosed by the sidewall surfaceand partially or fully closed at one end by a top surface, said topsurface defining an open center portion therein, and said threadlessouter cap defining at least one gripping surface in one or both of thesidewall surface and the top surface; and a threadless inner cap havingan inner cap top surface and an inner cap sidewall surface defining aninner cap open space closed at one end by said inner cap top surface,wherein said open space of the threadless outer cap receives said innercap so as to define an annulus between said sidewall surface of thethreadless outer cap and said inner cap sidewall surface, wherein saidthreadless inner cap sidewall surface sealingly engages said reduceddiameter portion and said sidewall of the outer surface overhangs saidreduced diameter portion.
 2. The threadless bottle assembly defined inclaim 1, wherein said gripping part includes a circumferential surfacesurrounding the sidewall surface.
 3. The threadless bottle assemblydefined in claim 1, wherein said gripping part includes one or morerecessed surfaces defined by the sidewall surface.
 4. The threadlessbottle assembly defined in claim 3, wherein said gripping part includesat least one circumferential surface surrounding the sidewall surface.5. The threadless bottle assembly defined in claim 1, wherein thesealing surface is a self-sealing surface.
 6. A cap for a bottle,comprising: a threadless cap, including: a threadless outer cap having asidewall surface defining an open space enclosed by the sidewall surfaceand partially or fully closed at one end by a top surface, said topsurface defining an open center portion, and said threadless outer capdefining at least one gripping surface in one or both of the sidewallsurface and the top surface; and a threadless inner cap including aninner cap top surface and an inner cap sidewall surface, wherein saidthreadless inner cap sidewall surface defines an open space closed atone end by said inner cap top surface, wherein said threadless outer capreceives said threadless inner cap in said threadless outer cap openspace so as to define an annulus between said threadless outer capsidewall surface and said inner cap sidewall surface.
 7. A cap for abottle as defined in claim 6, wherein said threadless inner cap is madeof rubber.
 8. A cap for a bottle as defined in claim 6, wherein saidthreadless inner cap is made of polypropylene.
 9. A cap for a bottle asdefined in claim 6, wherein said threadless inner cap is made ofpolyurethane.
 10. A cap for a bottle as defined in claim 6, wherein saidthreadless inner cap is made of polyvinyl chloride.
 11. A cap for abottle as defined in claim 6, wherein the inner threadless cap defines araised domed surface, wherein said raised domed surface is received insaid threadless outer cap open space.
 12. The cap defined in claim 6,wherein said gripping part includes a circumferential surfacesurrounding the sidewall surface.
 13. The cap defined in claim 6,wherein said gripping part includes one or more recessed surfacesdefined by the sidewall surface.
 14. The cap defined in claim 13,wherein said gripping part includes a circumferential surfacesurrounding the sidewall surface.
 15. The cap defined in claim 6,wherein the threadless outer cap and the threadless inner cap foil asingle unitary piece.
 16. The cap defined in claim 6, wherein thethreadless inner cap is detachably received in said threadless outer capopen center.